Slow Style in Florence
New Trends in the City’s Old Neighborhoods
If “slow life” is the key phrase of the day, Florence is definitely one of those cities that makes you want to slow down without sacrificing fun.
Beyond the flashy and banal part of Florence with the cheap souvenir shops around the cathedral, the too thick “pizza by the yard”, and ice creams in unlikely colors, you can find a quiet, subdued city that seems like a hamlet and offers an inimitable lifestyle. It is the old Florence with neighborhoods that many Florentines fiercely defend against the advent of mass marketing and all of its nastiest consequences. It’s just a question of knowing how to enjoy it.
For example, all you have to do is cross the Ponte Santa Trinità or wander around the Ponte Vecchio, the church of Santa Maria Novella, the basilica of Santa Croce, the Sant’Ambrogio market or the San Frediano district – and suddenly you will see little stores, antique shops, craft workshops, taverns and cafés where Florentines gather in the evening and stay late… they are the perfect places for getting to know the city’s other side, the one you don’t see on the “postcard version”. It is the best side.
On foot or by bicycle you can find that unique item in the vintage shops along the streets flanking the Arno, you can let yourself go and enjoy the pleasures of luxury on Via de’ Tornabuoni, Via del Parione, Piazza Strozzi, or Via Roma. You can spend an entire afternoon in Santo Spirito – on the east is Via Maggio, once the busiest street in town and now the antique dealers’ parlor nestled among the facades of the most beautiful buildings in Florence. In the maze of streets between Via Maggio and Via Guicciardini there is a new generation of artisans ready to revive the crafts that had been practiced here since the sixteenth century in crowded workshops along the streets branching out from the charming Piazza della Passera: woodworkers, painters, smiths, upholsterers, violinmakers and goldsmiths.
Piazza del Carmine and the nearby streets are the perfect setting for a before dinner drink. But you will find the most genuine atmosphere in Borgo San Frediano where life goes on the way it did forty years ago. Even today, San Frediano is a village within the city.
For those of you who will be in Florence during Pitti Uomo (12-15 January), you should know that this is one of the exciting times to be in town. Pitti Uomo is the world’s most important and exclusive trade fair featuring men’s fashions. This means that the city is at its best: special events, stores open until late at night merge with the previews of the new collections, parties everywhere and openings.
Some tips for stopping time in this city that travels in a thousand different gears but speaks slowly: aperitifs at Dolce Vita, Piazza del Carmine the historic lounge bar that pioneered the cocktail hour in Florence; at Zoe 13/r Via dei Renai, if you want to be in the crowd of students who descend on the city – it’s on the banks of the Arno and it’s great to meet friends and watch the sun slowly sink into the river. A chic drink is definitely what you’ll get at the Fusion Bar, Vicolo dell’Oro that recently opened a splendid outdoor space. Clubbing at night: Yab in Piazza Strozzi if you want something classic, or alternative dance at the Rooms Club, Via della Fornace, 9 (south Florence).
